Chris coneing it
CHRIS DOBEY is living proof that darts can change your life.
It was not long ago that the 27-year-old from Bedlington, Northumberland, was working through the night putting out traffic cones on Britain’s motorways.
This evening he takes to the oche at the William Hill World Championship to play the greatest of them all – Phil Taylor. And should the world No 38 beat the 16-time world champion he will go into sporting history as the last man to beat ‘The Power’, who is competing in his final tournament.
One thing is for sure – six years ago Dobey’s number came up when the road to being a darts professional opened up for him.
Dobey said: “It’s a funny story. I was actually at the bingo with my mum when Nick, a friend, came in.
“They were short of a player for the local darts league and he asked me if I’d mind standing in.
“I’d never, ever played but it turned out it was one of those natural things. I stepped in, carried on playing and might have lost once that season. I played in a local pub called The Ridge Farm. I was 21 and couldn’t believe it. I progressed more than a lot of my friends and they kept saying ‘push yourself, you need to go on to better things’, so I gave Q School a crack.”
Qualify he did, winning his PDC tour card, quitting his job and now sitting in the top 40 of their Order of Merit having won almost £104,000 in the last two years.
“It has been a massive pay rise compared to what I was on at work but you have to just focus on the game,” said Dobey, who will bank £11,000 for his first-round appearance, having reached the second round on his debut here last year. “It’s about the money, but you still want the results. The money is getting more and more but the standard is getting harder and harder to win it. It’s a lot of money. I’ve done well to get that far.” An evening shift at the Alexandra Palace is rather different to his past life for Dobey, whose partner Evyn gave birth to their son Cole five months ago.
Dobey said: “I did work away for a lot of the time, in Scotland and stuff. We would do 12-hour shifts, say 6pm to 6am, which you’d do for a couple of weeks.
“But it was messing with my darts too much. I just had to give the job up in the end.
“I used to do all different things: I’d work in the yard, make signs, put the signs out, sit on the closure point when roads are closed.
“People would give you grief but it was our job. One of my friends got cans of pop, apples, or pot noddles thrown at him. It’s a tough job.”
Tonight will be an occasion to remember for the man called...Hollywood – although maybe it should be Coneman the Barbarian.
“My nickname started off as a little joke,” said Dobey. “I used to come in wearing what I want for darts – shorts, a baseball cap, whatever I felt comfortable in.
“Someone shouted ‘Who do you think you are, some kind of Hollywood star?’ It stuck.”
As will the name Chris Dobey if he switches off ‘The Power’.
SKY SPORTS have agreed a new seven-year deal until 2025 with the PDC that will take their coverage into a fourth decade.